The Stranger
by SpecterX
Summary: An unconventional story about love


This is a completed one-shot.

Background –

The period is the time of the wizarding war; you may consider it to be the time around the start of Deathly Hallows, where the war is in full swing.

Note: You might disagree/utterly dislike the story since it might strike as terribly unrealistic, but I had to write it cause it felt so strong.

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She didn't have much time, and she knew it. The small stock of food she'd stowed away above the lift was barely enough to last a couple of days. It was a miracle that no one had found her yet. Coming to the building had been a bad idea; her only wish was she would've known this before jumping the fence a week ago. It was a twenty storeyed presumably office building, but the place was completely unrecognizable. It had been ravaged only a few weeks back, something she had known from rumors, and everyone inside had vanished, presumably dead, as always was the case. The floor was strewn with torn paper, broken glass and metal, and the plaster on the walls was falling apart, as if it had been put into place half a century ago. It was dark, derelict, and most importantly, completely void of life. Even insects seemed to be avoiding the place.

There was nothing to do but wait. Wait for nothing to happen, as it always did. Every day, a bunch of hooded figures, who she assumed to be wizards, would come to the lobby, each carrying one body behind them. When they returned, they had nothing with them. Twice, she had been to the lobby, but there was nothing there; just the same as every other place, except with twice the sense of foreboding and fear.

Today wouldn't be any different, she knew. She felt weak and void. More than once had she contemplated jumping off the top floor, but something kept her going. Maybe it was just the urge of living that she always denied she had. Sometimes she almost wished to be found, something that never seemed to happen, maybe because they never bothered to check. She waited, on the floor beside the window, from where she would have a clear view of the happenings below when they started. Around the time before it was just about to become dark, she heard the gate creak in the distance, and she instinctively withdrew ever so slightly into the shadows.

There were six of them, she could count. Six hooded figures, six bodies behind them. They walked steadily and she wondered why they did that, seeing that they could probably use some kind of magic to get cross the long stretch of garden that surrounded the building. She wondered why the building did have such a big garden; it didn't seem to have much utility for a place where greedy corporates minted money. They were almost a third of the way across when –

 _Crack._

The sharp sound made her jump and hit on the wall behind her. It had been close, but she couldn't see anything. The only thing she could hear was her heavy breathing, and almost her pounding heart. The hair on her arms stood up slightly. Without warning, the door of the lift ahead of her opened and she gasped.

'Stay calm' a deep voice said sharply. A tall, well-built man wearing a black coat stepped out of the lift. He had a torch in his hand, and she could see his face, but it wasn't anyone she recognized. He cast the light on her face, blinding her. Everything went silent for a few seconds, before he cast it away and she struggled to see. He put the light around the place a couple of times and finally turned it off.

'Can you walk?' he said, his voice slightly echoing. Even how she had been for the past year, he sounded completely emotionless.

'Yes' she found herself saying, her voice cracking from lack of use.

'That makes things easy' the man said, nodding. He drew out a small bag from inside his coat, rummaged inside it, and finally got what looked like a small golden rod, before stowing away the bag again.

'Keep this with you till the end' he said, handing it over to her. She took it gingerly. There seemed to be markings on the rod which she could not see in the dark. 'We must hurry'

He turned to the lift door again, but she didn't move. Strangely enough, there didn't seem to be any reason not to trust someone who had not killed her in the last five minutes, but she stood her ground.

'Who are you? Where are we going?' she said, her voice surprisingly sharp. He turned, and she took a step back without meaning to.

'Someone you can trust' the man said after a second. 'There's a tunnel under this building that we must exploit to get you out of here. I've been putting it in place for the last few days, and it seems to be good enough for use now. We don't have much time left. Once the snatchers leave, the place will be sealed an hour later till tomorrow, and I've no way of ensuring you're not found if I'm inside'

'You did what?' she stammered.

'They check if anyone is here every day' he said, still without emotion. 'I've been making sure they don't find anything. Can we go?'

There was a sense of urgency in his voice. She nodded and hurried towards the lift behind him.

'This thing doesn't work' she said as soon as she got inside. He ignored her and pressed the button for the lowest floor. Noiselessly, the lift started moving downward slowly, much to the surprise of her. A minute of silence later, it stopped, and the man stepped out. She followed. They were at the far end of the lobby, the same sense of foreboding in the air that she always felt. He took a step towards the window and looked out.

Without warning, a flash of white light hit the ceiling and the man fell down. She grappled her way back into the lift in horror. In a second, he was up again, running towards her.

'Top floor' he yelled, diving inside. She pressed the button, and the lift door closed, but opened again.

'What's happening?' he yelled again, a clear sense of panic in his voice now. Without thinking, she grabbed a piece of metal on the floor of the lift, ran out and smashed the button panel, coming back just in time as the doors closed and the lift started moving.

'That was stupid' the man groaned. 'I should have known better'

She could hear him breathing, as loudly as she was, if not more. A few seconds later –

'We must use the other exit' he said, standing up. He gave her his hand, which she took without hesitation. 'Once we get to the top floor, go to the rightmost wing and take the lift there'

She nodded. The lift stopped noiselessly. As soon as she stepped out, she knew something was wrong. The man hurriedly entered the first door to their right, and she followed behind.

'Get down' he whispered in her ear, the hand on her shoulder forcing her to her knees. They seemed to be in what looked like a classroom, crouching behind a desk. She suddenly noticed that the furniture wasn't broken, and the floor didn't seem to have been destroyed like the others. She wondered how she had never been there before.

'They are here' she heard a voice say in the distance, making her hair stand up again. 'Come out, we will find you!'

She peeked over and refrained immediately. There were three of the hooded figures at the end of the hall, looking behind each desk. Guessing by the size of the hall, it would take them at most a couple minutes to get to where they were.

'Third apple bush beside the water' a voice whispered in her ear, making her jump. She had almost forgotten that he was with her. 'Look behind it, and keep walking till you reach the end. Help will come at midnight. Keep the sign on you'

'What are you doing?' she whispered back, her eyes slightly wide.

'I know something that will distract them. Don't look back, I'll be right behind you. Tell me you will escape' he said, his tone hard to make out. She nodded. 'Look at me, can you promise me that?'

Without warning, he put a hand to her face. It was cold as ice. She shivered and looked into the stranger's eyes.

'Yes' she said, her voice cracking again.

'Go' he said, almost immediately looking away.

She crawled towards the door, telling herself not to look back, but it was hard. Just as she stepped out, her resolve failed, and she turned just in time to see the man stand up from behind the desk. She gasped.

'Look what we have here' one of the three hooded men cackled, as she watched in horror. 'What are you doing here?'

'It doesn't matter' the man said, sounding surprisingly calm. He took a step towards them. 'Why can't you guys ever stick to business?'

'Crucio' the second hooded figure yelled, a flash of light shot from him and the man ducked, the spell missing him.

'Stop!' the third said in a low, threatening voice. The first two subsided immediately.

'We had a deal' the man said, standing up again.

'Yes, we did' the third hooded figure said, his voice curious. 'And I don't see how you should benefit from it'

'It doesn't matter' he repeated. 'I'll take you as someone with honor, if that is still left'

There was a moment of silence.

'You are a very intriguing person' the third said finally. 'Or just stupid'

Without warning, a flash of green light shot from him and hit the man squarely in the chest. It lifted him off the ground and he hit the wall behind him, slumping down to the ground immediately. She gasped again, almost crying out.

'We're leaving' the hooded figure said almost immediately. She crawled back into the hall as the three made their way into the corridor. A minute later, when she could no longer hear anything, she stumbled forward towards the man and fell to her knees.

He was dead, and she knew she could do nothing. She didn't understand why the stranger had died for her. He had literally thrown away his life just to buy her the time she needed. She had to make sure it hadn't been a waste, she told herself. She would escape, as she had promised, whatever it took. She just wished she knew who he was.

Just as she was about to get up and leave, she noticed something and crouched down again. When she had seen him first, the man seemed to have been significantly older than what he looked now. Even his eyebrows seemed to have thinned. As she watched, to her surprise, the slight creases near the eyes vanished before her, and the skin became smooth. She glanced down to his hand and noticed the fist was clenched tightly. Not knowing why, she swooped down and forced it open.

It was a crumpled piece of paper, seemingly torn off a common notebook, judging by the rules. Fearing what she was about to see, she straightened it out. Innumerable arithmetic calculations were scribbled across the page, covering almost every inch, leaving nothing that could be of any use. An engineering formula was scribbled at the top of the page which she did not recognize any longer. It was her handwriting, incoherent and probably unreadable to anyone but her. She looked at the man again.

The ample flesh had vanished. He had turned skinny, tall and young, almost the same age as hers. The complexion had changed, and the coat was now twice as large than it should have been. But her eyes were fixated on the face, a face she knew from a lifetime ago. A single tear fell down onto the page. She looked at it and turned it around as memories flooded her mind. Only two letters were written on the back side.

'No'

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Author's note: This was an almost unabridged version of a dream I had today morning. When I experienced it, the characters were very particular to me, but I've refrained from describing the protagonist at all to keep it relatable to anyone.


End file.
